Prayers for the Nation
January’s Prayers for the Nation started differently as CCF Chairman David Burrowes MP, presented Black Rod with a commemorative plate to mark the Queen’s Jubilee. In his acceptance speech Black Rod stated that prayers from the chapel pervaded the whole of Westminster Palace.
The address was given by Paul Cowley on the question, 'Beyond redemption? Is there any hope of redemption for our prisoners?' Paul described how he came from a dysfunctional family, was expelled from school and thrown out of his home. A life of petty crime led to a short prison sentence, Paul commented that “[He] wasn’t very good at it”. On leaving prison he joined the army and served for 15 years reflecting that “The army saved my life, but not my soul. I was violent, I drank and I was divorced twice”.
In 1994 he walked into Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) and shortly afterwards signed up for an Alpha course: “Half way through I met God….It was a shock to both of us.” Getting his life together, Paul joined the staff at HTB and started Alpha for Prisons.
Paul presented an array of statistics on the state of the nation’s prisons and prisoners:
1. The current prison population is over 87,000, double the number in 1992
2. In 2011, over 1,365,000 people were sentenced for an offence of some kind
3. Half of adults are reconvicted within one year of being released (72% in the case of children)
4. 67% of prisoners were unemployed before imprisonment
5. 32% of the prison population are homeless, compared to 0.9% of the general population
6. The cost of a prison place is £45,000 per annum and the total cost is at least £12bn
After outlining these depressing facts and figures Paul followed up by saying, “The secular answer is that there is no real hope for our prisoners. But there is spiritual work going on, too.” Quoting from Jeremiah 29:1-14 and Romans 5:1-5, Paul commented that, above all else, prisoners needed hope. “Here, the church has to help…. The government can’t do it all. We must reduce re-offending; every year, 90,000 prisoners are released to live near where you live!”
Paul set up Caring for Ex-Offenders (CFEO), a charity based on the ideals of the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth. “William Booth spoke of soup, soap and then salvation. You have to meet ex-prisoners basic needs before you have earned the right to tell them about salvation. CFEO meets them at the prison gate and takes them to the church gate. Our aim is to support them so they don’t re-offend.”
Paul told those attending about two ex-offenders who had been helped and whose lives had subsequently been transformed, but also highlighted that there were 163 ex-offenders on CEFO’s list waiting for a church to help them, “I am disappointed when I contact a church and they don’t offer help, saying they are busy doing ‘other things’ or that ‘they are not that type of church’.”
Paul ended by asking those attending to prayer for:
· Crime to come down
· Prisons to empty
· Streets to be safe
· Sex-trafficking to end
· Long-term unemployed to be employed
· Ex-offenders to find hope.
After Paul’s address there was a 45 minute session of prayer led by a number of MPs on the following issues: Prisons, Parliament including the Opposition, House of Lords and Ambassadors, Church and Christian organisations, David Cameron and the Cabinet.
The next Prayers for the Nation will be on Monday 5th March, at the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft from 7.00-8.30pm. Email ccfadmin@conservatives.com or call 0207 984 8305 to reserve a place.
For more information on Caring for Ex-Offenders and perhaps to offer help, visit www.caringforexoffenders.org
